IT Skills Gap: CIO Headache, Channel Opportunity

IT Skills Gap: CIO Headache, Channel Opportunity

CIOs are looking to outsource IT to gain access to skills they don't have in-house; this opens up key opportunities for IT solution providers.

Skills Shortfall

65% of CIOs believe a shortage of talent will prevent their organizations from keeping up with the pace of change, a 10% increase in 12 months.

In-Demand Skills

Nearly four in 10 (39%) of CIOs said data analytics is the most in-demand skill for the second consecutive year, followed by project management (32%) and business analysis (28%).

Going Digital

The biggest increase in skill demand is digital, up 21%, and security, up 17% from last year.

Bigger Budgets

Less than half (45%) of CIOs said their IT budgets are increasing. However, 59% said they are being held back on innovation due to a lack of resources or funding.

Outsourcing IT

50% of CIOs will increase investment in outsourcing this year, and 44% will increase offshoring activity in 2016. What's more, 12% sourced half or more of their staff through flexible or contingent contracts.

Freeing Up Resources

51% of CIOs see outsourcing primarily as a tool to free up resources to focus on their companies' core business, up from 46% in 2015.

Sourcing for Skills

45% outsource to gain access to skills not available in-house, up from 41% last year.

Staff Concerns

Despite the skills shortage, 44% of CIOs expect to increase their teams' size next year, while 89% are concerned about talent retention.

Changing Focus

While 63% of respondents say CEOs focus on IT projects that make money, 37% say the CEO "is more interested in IT predominantly being used as a cost-saving tool," the study said.

Focusing on "As a Service" Solutions

For this year, 31% are planning a significant investment in SaaS, 25% in IaaS and 20% in PaaS solutions. In the next three years, CIOs plan to ramp up investments in all three cloud service platforms.

With CIOs reporting the greatest technology skills shortage since 2007, it's no surprise that half of them expect to increase their IT outsourcing spend in 2016, according to the annual survey conducted by IT staffing company Harvey Nash and KPMG. The survey of 3,352 global CIOs and technology leaders finds that IT budgets for many organizations are growing. However, "growth organizations—where CIOs are operating with an increased IT budget compared to last year—are more likely to be impacted by the technology skills shortage; 67 percent of these IT leaders report a talent gap compared to the average (65 percent)," the report reads. As a significant number of CIOs look to outsource to gain technology skills that they don't have in-house, and to free up resources so they can focus on their core business, key opportunities open up for IT solution providers with the right skill sets and services. Here are key takeaways from the report that point to the biggest opportunities for the channel.